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Hear Dave Chappelle Explain Why He Walked Off the Stage Last Week

Dave Chappelle’s performance in Hartford last week — the one where he stopped performing, sat on the stage and ran out of time with reading and light anecdotes in response to an unruly crowd — was baffling, if unsurprising for the notoriously moody comedian. Luckily, Chappelle continued with the Oddball Comedy & Curiosity Festival tour and went on to Chicago where he explained the Hartford incident in less than kind words. According to an audio-only file posted by TMZ, Chappelle badmouthed the Connecticut capital onstage Tuesday night in a four-minute clip that includes him calling the crowd a bunch of “young, white alcoholics” and saying “I don’t want anything bad to happen to the United States but if North Korea ever drops a nuclear bomb on this country, I swear to God I hope it lands in Hartford, Connecticut.”

The Hollywood Reporter also pulled out a choice sound bite from the performance, proving he’s far savvier at this than we might remember: “I wanted to pull a reverse Kramer and call ‘em all crackers or something crazy like that. I know that shit’ll be on YouTube. ‘Funnyman Dave Chappelle calls a room full of white people crackers.’ Couldn’t do that. I felt bad when Kramer did that shit to us.”

Our favorite part though includes Chappelle likening his walk-off to that of a Siegfried & Roy tiger show: “I know that crowd feels lucky that they got to see me freak out … ‘He might get bit. I’ll see that for $35.’”

Dave Chappelle Explains Leaving Stage Last Week